A recent re-procurement effort will see NHS trusts running urgent treatment centres (UTCs) in North West London, with the UTCs to be “brought in-house” at their hospital locations at Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust, The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Trust, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust.
Work will soon be underway to “improve the services provided by UTCs through the new contracts”, and “to make sure patients are seamlessly transferred to the teams that are best placed to support them”.
As part of this improvement process, IT systems will be enhanced to “ensure clinicians can see a patient’s full record, helping to improve clinical decision-making, patient care and outcomes”.
In related news, the CQC’s urgent and emergency care survey for 2022 highlighted a decline across urgent and emergency care services, as well as a specific concern around UTC standards, which outline that people with an appointment should be seen and treated within 30 minutes.
NHS North West London also recently announced that it will be refreshing its mental health strategy, working alongside local authorities and partners “responsible for the delivery and planning of health and social care services”.